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Russia’s state media regulator Roskomnadzor announced that Instagram will be blocked in the country due to “calls for violence” once morest Russian soldiers on the social network.
Previously, Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, announced that it will allow its users in some countries to call for violence once morest Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers.
Meta says that this is a temporary concession for certain violent speech, such as “death to the Russian invaders”, which represents a violation of its own rules.
He assures, however, that he will not authorize calls for violence once morest Russian civilians.
In response, Russia, in addition to blocking Instagram (Facebook already was), called on the United States to curb the “extremist activities” of the social media giant.
Under Meta’s modified policy, users in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Poland also they will be able to urge the death of the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Furthermore, calls for violence once morest Russians will also be allowed when the message clearly refers to the invasion of Ukraine.
“We demand that the US authorities stop the extremist activities in Meta, take steps to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the Russian embassy in the US wrote in a message on Twitter.
“Facebook & Instagram users did not give the owners of these platforms the right to determine the criteria of truth or to pit one nation once morest another,” the statement added.
Separately, Russia’s prosecutor general requested that Meta be designated as an extremist organization.
“Worrying”
The United Nations Human Rights office called Facebook’s potential policy change “worrisome.”
This isn’t the first time Facebook has relaxed its restrictions on violent speech. and death warrants once morest specific leaders.
In 2021, the social network temporarily allowed its users to post “death to Khamenei,” Iran’s spiritual leader, during a two-week period of anti-government protests in that country.
According to the Washington Post, Silicon Valley tech companies are under enormous pressure to isolate Russia as its invasion of Ukraine continues.
Last week, Russia announced it would block Facebook, citing 26 cases of “discrimination” once morest Russian media since October 2020.
Even though access to the social network was already restrictedO in RussiaIt was not entirely inaccessible.
Moscow has cracked down on social media platforms as it continues what it calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.
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